


Candles in the Window, Carols at the Spinet

by WinterSky101



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: 31st Century (DCU), Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Friendship, Gen, Homesickness, POV Mon-El (Supergirl TV 2015), POV Querl Dox, Past Kara Danvers/Mon-El, Season/Series 04, Supergirl (TV 2015) Season 4, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28322952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterSky101/pseuds/WinterSky101
Summary: Two Christmases, a thousand years apart.
Relationships: Kara Danvers & Querl Dox, Legionnaires & Mon-El (Supergirl TV 2015)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Candles in the Window, Carols at the Spinet

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates!
> 
> Title comes from "We Need A Little Christmas" from the musical Mame.

Christmas in the thirty-first century is very different from Christmas in the twenty-first. As far as Mon-El can tell, honestly, Christmas doesn't seem to be celebrated anymore at all, or if it is, it's not a big, public holiday. There's certainly nothing to the scale of the Christmas celebrations that Mon-El saw with Kara during their year together. There's nothing much at all.

Mon-El only celebrated Christmas once, but now it's just one more thing he'll never be able to do with Kara again.

Mon-El is only sort of moping when Imra finds him on the balcony. "What are you doing?" she asks, leaning next to him on the railing.

"Just thinking," Mon-El replies. He likes Imra, which is especially convenient given the ongoing arrangements and negotiations for their upcoming marriage, but he's not sure she'd understand if he spoke to her about this. If he misses anything, he should miss Daxam. He lived there for his whole life, after all. And he _does_ miss Daxam, but all of his memories of Daxam are tainted now with the knowledge of how awful things there were. He can't think about anything from Daxam without wondering who was suffering while he lazed around.

He can't think about good times with his mother without remembering the way she looked at him when she crumbled to ash.

And it's not that his year on Earth was all perfect, because it absolutely wasn't. The year began with the knowledge that his planet was gone and ended with the deaths of his parents. It was far from perfect, but it was _good_. It had friends, and it had love. It had Kara.

Now, Mon-El probably will never have Kara again.

"Come with me," Imra says, pushing off the railing and reaching for Mon-El's hand. "I have something to show you."

"What is it?" Mon-El asks, tentatively taking Imra's hand.

Imra smiles, and for a moment, Mon-El wonders if she's the sort of woman he could fall in love with. "Just come with me and I'll show you."

Mon-El does as he's told and lets Imra lead him through the Legion headquarters. She finally comes to a stop in front of the common room.

"What are we doing here?" Mon-El asks.

Imra winks, then she opens the door.

"Merry Christmas!" a multitude of voices chorus. Mon-El gapes at the sight of a fully-decorated Christmas tree, hanging lights, and other almost gaudy decorations on every conceivable surface.

"Is this an acceptable recreation of a twenty-first century Christmas?" Brainy asks, looking as if he might pull out an omnicom and begin taking down notes on Mon-El's answer.

"This looks… amazing," Mon-El says. "How did you even do this? Why did you do this?"

"We all noticed that you seemed to be feeling a bit down," Imra says. "And when we cross-referenced the date with a twenty-first century calendar, we thought it might be because you were missing Christmas."

"As for how we did this," Nura pipes in, "to be entirely honest, at least a third of this stuff is just holograms."

"She's right," Imra admits. "The lights are real, and some of the decorations are real, but the tree is a hologram. We couldn't find anywhere to buy an Earth-style evergreen like that. Most of the other plant-based decorations are holograms too."

"I made all the paper snowflakes," Luornu says. "And let me tell you, even with six hands, that was a _lot_ of paper snowflakes."

"I put up the lights," Reep adds. "The ceilings are too high for anyone else, at least until Brainy and Lyle get those rings figured out."

"Does this look right?" Imra asks tentatively. "We were basing it off whatever old records we could find, but there weren't many available. Brainy and Lyle have been researching for the past two weeks, but they could only find so much."

"I mean, I was only on Earth in the twenty-first century for one Christmas," Mon-El says. "But this looks right to me. It looks really nice."

"Do you know any Christmas carols?" Brainy asks. "Lyle and I could find some lyrics, but none with surviving musical accompaniments."

Mon-El does his best to remember. Kara led a singalong last Christmas, with accompaniment from Winn and James, mostly, and Alex when they talked her into it. He's not sure he remembers any of the songs very well, but he might be able to fumble his way through one. It's not like anyone else here is going to be able to tell. They know the songs even less than he does.

"Do you have any requests?" Mon-El asks. "No promises that I'll know it, but I can do my best."

"I mean, there are a few we have questions about," Lyle says. "There's one called Santa Baby that seems weirdly sexual, considering Santa is supposed to be, if our research is correct, a fat old man who brings gifts to children."

"I think that's what Santa is," Mon-El agrees. "I don't know the song, though. Any other ones you guys found?"

"The one we found referenced the most was called Jingle Bells," Brainy says. "It seems to be some sort of reference to sleigh bells, with jingle being an onomatopoeia describing the sound the bells make."

"Yeah, I know that one," Mon-El says. It's a bit awkward to sing it with everyone looking at him, and he definitely flubs a few of the words, but that's alright. Brainy looks like he's itching to transcribe the melody into sheet music and add it to the archives, but he restrains himself, to Mon-El's relief.

"Is this what you would usually do at a Christmas party in the twenty-first century?" Imra asks.

"I really only went to one Christmas party," Mon-El admits. "But this is similar. We sang carols, and we had hot chocolate and eggnog, and we admired the decorations."

"I know what hot chocolate is, but eggnog?" Tinya says, wrinkling her nose. "Is that made with real eggs?"

"I have no idea how it's made, but it was pretty tasty." Mon-El shrugs. "I'm not an expert on Christmas or anything, guys."

The others all look at each other. "But you do enjoy it, right?" Imra asks, a bit tentative.

"Yeah!" Mon-El agrees quickly. "Christmas is fun. I liked it last year, and I like it this year. You guys did a great job with this whole thing."

"I could attempt to find a recipe for this eggnog," Brainy offers. "I'm not sure if any would be available, but there are some old records that might include it."

"And we can get hot chocolate," Nura adds. "You're definitely not getting any sort of fight over that."

"You guys have done enough already," Mon-El protests halfheartedly. "This is good."

"You can teach us more about Christmas, and we can all learn about it together," Imra says with a smile. "It seems like a nice holiday."

"I don't know much of anything about the historical origins," Mon-El warns. "I mean, I'm pretty sure it's some sort of religious holiday, but we never really mentioned that."

"We can celebrate it without knowing the full history," Luornu dismisses. "It's a fun holiday with songs and decorations and good drinks. That's enough for me."

"Traditionally, I think there's also a gift exchange," Mon-El says. "With everyone, not just Santa. I'm not entirely sure Santa is a real person, to be honest."

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Tinya says, her face lighting up. "We should do that! We should all get each other presents!"

"If we all get presents for everyone, that'll add up fast," Lyle counters.

Tinya shrugs. "So?"

"We can figure that out later," Imra cuts in quickly. "For now… Mon-El, what do you think? Do you want to celebrate Christmas with us?"

To be honest, it wasn't really Christmas that Mon-El was missing. He wouldn't have thought he'd be interested in celebrating it without Kara. But now, with the Legion - his new family - around him, having put in so much work to try and make him happy, he thinks Christmas might be a pretty great holiday after all.

"Sure. Let's do it." He grins. "Merry Christmas, everyone."

Imra smiles at him, her eyes warm. "Merry Christmas."

* * *

It's not until Christmas decorations begin appearing all over National City that Querl thinks to research the holiday. He has a patchwork of knowledge regarding it from Mon-El, but although they've celebrated it in the thirty-first century, they never quite knew what they were doing. Here, though, Querl can look into the holiday, and he can make sure he knows what he's getting into.

He researches Christmas thoroughly, then he researches Hanukkah, since he's fairly certain Alex and Kara also celebrate that, and then he researches every other December holiday he can find records of. Technically, he thinks he was awoken from his pod the year before either on Christmas or right after it, but in all the chaos from Reign, it was never mentioned. Things are still chaotic this year, but Querl thinks they'll probably celebrate somehow, and thus he needs to be prepared.

And so, when Kara invites Querl to a party on Christmas Eve, Querl is fairly certain he knows what to expect.

Kara didn't mention anything about gifts, but Querl knows better than to show up empty-handed. The fake flowers seemed to go over well at Thanksgiving, so he procures some fake poinsettias as a seasonally-appropriate Christmas gift. Real flowers, he knows, are an option too, but cut ones die and uncut ones are an obligation. Fake flowers last longer with almost no work required, so Querl decides to stick to those.

Kara, Alex, J'onn, and James are all waiting at Kara's apartment when Querl arrives. "Oh, thank you!" Kara says when she takes his poinsettias. "These are beautiful."

"They're not real," Querl warns.

Kara grins. "Yeah, I figured. They're easier that way."

"Hey, Brainy!" Alex calls from the kitchen. "We were wondering if you celebrate Christmas in the thirty-first century. Is it still a thing?"

"Christmas is by no means as pervasive as it is in the twenty-first century. For the most part, it's not celebrated. However, the Legion does celebrate. We researched it for Mon-El's first Christmas with us, so we could provide him with the experience."

"Mon-El did seem to like Christmas when he was with us in the twenty-first century," Kara muses, smiling fondly.

"By the way, Brainy, you can turn off your image inducer," J'onn says. "Everyone here is aware of all secret identities within the group."

"Lena couldn't make it," James explains. "And Nia is with her family."

Querl feels a slight sense of trepidation at the thought of turning off his image inducer, even in private and among friends. The paranoia of the twenty-first century alien experience must be rubbing off on him. It's foolish to worry about it _here_ , though, and so Querl deactivates the image inducer and allows himself to be perceived in his natural form.

"There you are," Alex says with a slight smile. "Do you ever get sick of wearing that thing?"

"It does allow me to keep a more effective secret identity," Querl replies. "And it allows me to pass as human, which is helpful in the current era."

"No politics on Christmas," James declares as Kara opens her mouth to respond. "We can go back to trying to save the world tomorrow."

"Did you ask all of the supervillains to take a break today?" Kara replies, a little dryly.

"They all respected my schedule," James jokes back. "Today should be a peaceful, crime-free day. Which means no politics. Let's talk about something else."

"Kara," J'onn says, "weren't you writing a holiday-themed article?"

"I was!" Kara agrees brightly. "It's about Christmas traditions in National City. It's kind of a fluff piece, but I like it."

"May I read it?" Querl asks. "I've been researching Christmas traditions myself."

"I'll send it to you once it's finished," Kara offers. "Just tell me if there are any typos or anything, okay?"

"Of course."

"Eggnog is ready!" Alex declares, bringing a tray of glasses over to the couch.

"You say that like you made it yourself, instead of just pouring it from a carton and adding nutmeg," Kara says, taking a glass for herself.

"And brandy," Alex says, holding out the tray for the others. Querl cautiously takes his own glass, studying it intently. They've never been able to find a surviving eggnog recipe in the thirty-first century, but the bit of information Querl's been able to find about the beverage leaves him feeling dubious at best about it.

"Cheers, everyone," J'onn says, holding out his glass.

"Cheers!" everyone choruses, clinking their glasses together. Querl lifts his to his mouth and takes a cautious sniff, then tries a sip.

It's absolutely disgusting.

Alex bursts out laughing at the look on his face. "Not a fan?"

"Not particularly," Querl admits, setting the glass down on the table.

"More for the rest of us," Kara says, using Querl's glass to top off her own.

"Do you want something else?" James asks. "We've got hot chocolate."

"I'm alright," Querl says. The little voice in his head that tells him when he's being impolite (which sounds suspiciously like Imra) nags at him, and he adds, "Thank you."

"Let us know if you do want anything," Kara says. "Ooh, that reminds me, I should bring out the cookies!"

"You bought cookies?" Alex asks.

"I _made_ cookies," Kara corrects, uncovering a plate of sugar cookies. "And they're not even burnt at all."

"They look delicious," J'onn says, taking one off the plate when Kara offers it to him. He takes a slightly cautious bite, and Querl is fairly certain he's not imagining the look of relief on Alex and James's faces when he appears to enjoy it. They both reach for cookies as well, and after a moment, so does Querl. He takes a bite, prepared to quickly shut off his taste buds if the taste proves unpleasant, but he doesn't have to. The cookie is perhaps sweeter than Querl would prefer, but it's entirely edible and fairly pleasant.

"Do you guys like them?" Kara asks, setting the plate down on the table.

"They're really good," Alex says through a mouthful of cookie.

"They are," James agrees.

Kara looks over at Querl, eager for a review. "The taste is pleasant," Querl reports, which is only a slight exaggeration. Judging by how pleased Kara looks, it was a good thing to say.

"Well then," Kara declares, holding up a cookie, "I want to propose a cookie toast."

Everyone else raises their cookies, and Querl belatedly joins them. He's not quite sure what a cookie toast is, but he imagines he's about to find out.

"To the holidays," Kara says. "To family. To us."

"To us," the others chorus, and everyone taps their cookies together.

"And most importantly," Alex says, "to you, Kara, for being the one who brought all of us together."

"Yeah, to Kara!" James agrees.

"To Kara," Querl murmurs, tapping his cookie against J'onn's as directed.

"Aww, I love you guys!" Kara squeals. She wraps her arms around everyone to pull them into a hug, and it's a little squashed and tight (and Querl is fairly certain there's at least one cookie that's getting crushed in the middle), but he's surprised to find he doesn't mind. He's even more surprised to find he actually enjoys it. There is, allegedly, a sort of magic around the holidays known as the "holiday spirit." Perhaps this is an example of that.

And if it is, Querl thinks he rather enjoys it.

**Author's Note:**

> My writing tumblr is [here](http://winterskywrites.tumblr.com/), if you're interested.


End file.
